


The Vacant Nothing

by ShyAudacity



Series: Spark&Teeth [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Distopian AU, Established Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Flashbacks, Grief/Mourning, Hale Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Lydia and Peter dont actually speak, M/M, Mentions of Hale Family - Freeform, Minor Character Death, No Supernatural Creatures Allowed AU, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Reunions, Spark Stiles, idk maybe?, its minor though, its not mentioned though, minor fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-14 01:05:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9149959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: He finds him in the dining hall with Lydia, pouring over some book that Deaton had brought them. He interrupts Derek mid-sentence.“You, you need to come with me right now.”“Why? What’s wrong?”“There’s a girl at the border asking for you, and I think it would be best if you go talk to her, like right now.”“Why?”“Because she knows what your middle name is.” Stiles challenges.ORCora shows up at Spark & Teeth. Feelings insue.(This will make more sense if you read Spark & Teeth first).





	

**Author's Note:**

> What's this? I wrote something? For a fic I finished eight months ago? This probably sucks and I can't tell y'all how long it took me to fuckin write this. Anyways, here it is, a continuation piece to Spark & Teeth. Have fun.

Of all the days that stick out in Derek’s mind, the day Kate burned his house down with his family locked inside is hands down the most prominent. That day, Derek and his older sister, Laura went to school just as they normally would. They said goodbye to their parents and Uncle Peter, who had been in town visiting. Their youngest sister, Cora, had stayed home with their parents, claiming that she hadn’t felt well.

Derek was sitting in third period when he started to feel off, like part of him was missing. He went to text his mom to ask her what it could be, but his phone was already going off, he had multiple texts from Laura.

_10:03 Derek I think something is wrong._

_10:04 Derek my eyes are turning red._

_10:04 Answer me dumbass something is seriously wrong._

_10:05 I’m freaking out in the middle of class please come help me, I’m terrified. Why would my eyes be turning red?_

_10:05 What if something happened to mom_

_10:05 Derek c’mon this isn’t funny_

_10:06 DEREK FUCKING ANSWER ME ALREADY PLEASE_

Derek can feel his stomach sinking with every word that he reads. Before he can reply, the teacher is calling his name, telling him that he needs to go to the principal’s office for something. He feels as though he could vomit the entire walk there, trying to convince himself that nothing is wrong, that everything is fine.

When he walks in, and the overwhelming scent of grief and fear is enough to make him forget how to breathe, which only adds to his worry. Laura is sitting in a chair in front of the principal’s desk, face pale and wet with tears, she grabs his hand as soon as Derek is close enough to touch.   

The principal looks at both of them in a miserable way. “I’m not entirely sure how to tell you two this but… there was an accident at your house earlier this morning.”

* 

It’s around two in the afternoon, and Stiles is out at the border standing guard. Well, more like _sitting_ guard, but either way he’s keeping watch. When he hears a ruffling of branches, he looks up. Seeing a dark haired, younger looking women with a small bag slung over her shoulder come towards him, he gets to his feet, wiping his hands off on his jeans.

“Welcome to Spark and Teeth, how can I be of your assistance?” He still kind of hates Lydia for making him say that to everyone that passes through.

“I’m looking for Derek Hale.” She tells him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“What do you want with Derek?”

“I’m his sister.”

* 

When he principal told him about the fire, it takes him less than an hour to figure out who had done it. He knew that it was Kate. Because just a few days before, she had told him that she loved him, then demanded that he tell her all of his dirty secrets. So he told her about everything that he could think of, werewolves, mountain ash, emissaries, the whole nine yards.

Then the principal tells him that his family had been trapped inside the house. All the door locked from the outside and the windows lined with a strange, black substance. Derek wishes that he had kept his mouth shut. Wishes that he had never trusted Kate in the first place.

He doesn’t tell Laura that he figured it out.

* 

“Prove it.”

“Prove what?”

“Prove to me that you’re his sister,” Stiles says, his mouth spewing out words before he takes the time to think about them. “If you’re his sister, then what’s his middle name?” He’s sure that he’s got her beat, because it’s a trick question. Only because Derek ha-

“Which one? He has three middle names.” She states, glaring at him.

Stiles’ eyes nearly pop out of his head. “Holy shit, you are his sister. Alright, okay, wow this is weird. Okay, um, you know what, you wait here and I will go get Derek.”

“Why can’t I just come with you?”

“Because if you really are who you say you are, then Derek might just cry. He’d kill me if I let anyone else see that happen. Just give me two seconds, and I’ll be right back with him I just- shit this is weird.” He breaks the mountain ash border, watches her step inside, then runs back inside the hotel to find Derek.

He finds him in the dining hall with Lydia, pouring over some book that Deaton had brought them. He interrupts Derek mid-sentence.

“You, you need to come with me right now.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“There’s a girl at the border asking for you, and I think it would be best if you go talk to her, like _right now_.”

“Why?”

“Because she knows what your middle name is.” Stiles challenges.

Derek cocks his head, giving him a confused look, then his eyes grow wide in realization. He looks back to Lydia. “I’ll be back in just a minute.” He tells her in a half assed manner, then turns and follows Stiles out to the border. He stops just a few feet shy of the girl, a look of utter disbelief on his face.

“Cora?”

She nods at him, and he rushes towards her, arms open. Cora is much shorter than he is, but he tucks his head into the side of her neck, holding onto her for dear life. They stand like that for a long time, just holding onto each other.

Stiles stands back, watching the whole scene unfold before his eyes. He can’t help but be amazed.

* 

A week after the fire, four days after Derek and Laura drop out of high school and get their GED’S, the two of them decide to leave for New York. With their only living relative now in a coma because of the fire, they decide to get a change of scenery, having felt weighed down by grief in Beacon Hills.      

Laura gets into contact with a Werewolf Pack they know that lives just outside of Otsego County. The Alpha assures them that they will have a room for the pair to stay in, and apologizes for their loss. That first night in New York, they sit out on the balcony attached to their room and talk.

“We’re going to get through this.” Laura tells him. “I don’t know how… but we will. Overtime.”

Derek swallows hard and forces himself not to lose his lunch. He wants to tell her about Kate, wishes that he could. But it’s too soon. He just lost the rest of his family, he isn’t prepared to lose Laura yet. So instead he nods, rest his head on her shoulder. The next few nights, they share a bed together, too nervous to let one out of the others sight for too long.

* 

“I was in South America for a while,” Cora tells everyone, they’re gathered in the dining hall. “A pack there took me in after I told them about the fire. I told them that my family was dead, and then they became my new family. I was visiting the states with a pack member when I overheard someone say something about a camp for werewolves being run in Oregon. When I asked about it, they said that it was being run by a Hale. I had to come see it for myself.”

“How did you know that it was me?” Derek asked.

“I did some research.” She says. Derek grips her hand, and she grips it back. “I’m really glad that I did.”

“Are you planning on staying?” Stiles asks. “Because, believe me, we have plenty of vacancy.”

She turns to Derek. “Is that okay with you guys?”

“Absolutely. Everyone is family here.”

* 

Five years. It’s been five years since the fire killed their family, and Derek still hasn’t told his sister about what Kate did. He wants to, he wants to tell her so _badly,_ but he can’t. He can’t tell her that he’s the reason the rest of their family is dead. He doesn’t say anything, at least not until Laura brings it up.

“I think it was one of the Argent’s that set the fire.” She tells him. It’s a week before the anniversary; she says it while they’re having dinner.

He panics. “Wh-what makes you say that?”

“Well for starters they never really liked us. No matter what mom said, they didn’t trust us anymore than we trusted them. Just as well, more than once I saw Kate look at you like she wanted to eat you.”

Derek coughs, standing up and wringing his hands together.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Your heartbeat shot up as soon as I mentioned the Argents. What aren’t you telling me?”

“Kate knew about the tunnels.” Derek stammers.

“What do you mean she knew? There’s no way that she, or any other hunters, could have known about the tunnels. We-.”

“I told her.”

“ _You told her?_ ” Laura exclaimed.

“She promised that she wouldn’t tell anybody. I didn’t think that she had plans of her own. If I had known that then I wouldn’t have said anything. Please, Laura, believe me, I wasn’t trying to-.”

“To what? Get our family killed?”

Derek gaped at her, tears stinging the back of his eyes. They stared at each other, the scents of multiple emotions filling the room. Her phone rang, breaking the two out of their silence. She went into her room as she answered the phone, and Derek tried to will himself to forget the things his sister had just said to him. He wanted so badly to turn back time so the last five minutes hadn’t happened. He wanted to go back five years and stop himself from telling Kate all their family secrets. Derek wanted his family back.  

“That was the hospital,” Laura told him. “Something happened with Peter. They need me to come out to Beacon Hills and check on him, I’ll be back in a few days.” She went out the front door without another word, a duffle bag in hand.

If Derek had known that was going to be the last time he was going to see her, he would have said he was sorry. He goes back to Beacon Hills, to identify her, to grieve at the place where his family home once stood. Shortly after, the notice comes out, saying that himself and other creatures like him, were a disgrace and no longer welcome in California.

He has yet to find his way back home. 

* 

That night, Derek helped Cora get settled into her room.

“I’m really glad that I found you guys,” She said. “I was starting to think that this whole “halfway house for supernatural creatures” was just some hoax.”

“I’m glad that you found us, too. Can… can I ask you a question?”

Cora nodded.

“How did you get out? Of the fire, I mean.”

“I’m not entirely sure, I don’t remember all of it. I remember Mom saying that she smelled something funny upstairs, then she led all of us down to the basement. When we all got there the smell just kept getting worse so we went to the tunnels. Then uncle Peter said something about mountain ash then everyone was trying to get out at once and-.”

“Wait, Peter?” Derek interrupted.

“Yeah, he helped me find a weak spot in the mountain ash then told me to run. I thought he was behind me, but when I turned around no one was there. Why do you look so confused?”  

“He…Peter made it out of the fire.”

“What? How? You and Laura were- holy shit, Laura, I can’t believe I forgot about her. Where is she? Why isn’t she here?”

Derek felt his stomach leap into his throat at the thought of telling Cora that their sister had been murdered by their uncle. He knew he couldn’t avoid it.

“She um… she died.”

“I don’t understand,” Cora told him. “She wasn’t at home when the fire happened, how could she have-.”

“It happened after the fire,” Derek said, the words coming out of his mouth before he could stop them. “It was a few years ago, Laura and I had moved to New York after the fire and Peter was in a coma so he stayed in Beacon Hills. She got a call one day that something had happened with Peter so she went back to Beacon Hills to go check on him. Peter killed her, Cora. He killed our sister.”   

“Why didn’t you go with her?” she asked, her lip trembling.

“She was mad at me because I told her…”

“Told her what?”

“I told her that Kate Argent killed our family.” He answered shamefully. He sat on the bed, his gaze focused on the floor beneath him. Derek felt the bed dip next to him, a pair of arms slinked around his shoulders, he gripped at them.

“I’m not going to ask about how Kate knew, because I think I already know. However, I am going to ask what happened to Peter.”

“I took care of him.” Derek told her simply.

She nodded into his shoulder, holding onto him tighter than before. He hugged her back, relishing in the fact that his sister was actually there with him. Afterward they talked for hours, trying to catch up on all the things they had missed out on. They said goodnight to each other around two in the morning, and Derek went back to his and Stiles’ room.

Stiles, miraculously, was still awake, reading a book about Mages that Deaton had given to him. Stiles looked up at his boyfriend and smiled.

“Hi,” he said. Derek didn’t respond, just flopped down next to him on the bed. Stiles set his book down, then rolled over to face Derek. “How are you doing?”

“I didn’t think this day would ever happen. I always imagined about the possibility of getting to see my family again, but I always figured that I would have to die first in order for that to happen.”

“I’m really happy for you, Derek. I saw the way Cora bonded with everyone at dinner, I think she’s going to fit in quite well here. Plus, I caught Lydia making eyes at her more than once, so I think there’s something she’s not tell-.”

“I love you.” Derek blurted out, cutting Stiles off.

Stiles gaped at him, taking in the look of utter joy on his boyfriend’s face. “I love you too.” 

The two of them then curled into each other, pressing their foreheads together. Later, they fell asleep, with Derek’s head tucked under Stiles' chin.

The next morning, Stiles woke up to a cold and empty bed. He got up, walking towards the dining hall, when he noticed the door to Cora’s room was open. Peeking his head in, he saw Cora lying on her stomach in bed, with Derek to her, a protective hand resting in between her shoulder blades.  

Stiles smiled to himself, then shut the door, he thought to himself:

_I’m so glad that Derek found his way back home._

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me if this sucks, i've been trying to think of ideas for this series and I have next to nothing, so if you have an idea, send it my way! I might just write it. Anyways, let me know what you thought of this, leave a kudos if you want. Have a great day and happy new year.


End file.
